Nail polish remover

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Gnomebrewer

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I have a brew that I bottled two weeks ago that has an aroma and slight taste of nail polish remover that is getting stronger the longer it is in bottles.

Details:
Dunkelweizen
OG 1046 FG 1010 6 gallon batch
Yeast: WY3068 (second generation, used about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of yeast cake from previous hefeweizen....harvested 2 days prior).
Aeration by circulating through a pump with lots of splashing.
Yeast pitched at 65F. Fermented at 65F (actual temp, not room temp).
2 week primary, racked to bottling bucket with 6oz corn sugar (boiled in 3/4c water), then bottled.

Most of the information I can find about nail polish remover issues point to high fermentation temps, which was not the case here, or underpitching, which is also not the case (according to Mr Malty).

So, that leaves infection......this makes me sad because 4 other brews since have all gone through the same bottling bucket. I am also quite fastidious about sanitation, so infection would surprise me (wash and soak with Sodium percarbonate, sanitize immediately before use with starsan).

Any suggestions/opinions? I'm resigned to dumping the dunkelweizen, which I can live with, but am hoping to not have to dump 4 others.....
 
I don't think any infections cause solvent-like off flavors. I think it is always fermenting too high or using plastics that aren't food grade. At what temperature did you pitch the yeast? Is it possible the power went out on your fermentation chamber during the initial fermentation and came back on and got the beer down to temp before you even noticed it happened?
 
Everyone on this forum likes to point to infection, but I don't think that's the case here. Acetone flavors and scents can also be due to oxidation, so it's possible something in your process let too much air into the fermenter.
 
Nail polish remover odor is from acetone.

Ethyl acetate, in larger amounts, is the cause. It can be from infection, but is commonly caused by high fermentation temperature. I've heard it can be from over oxygenation, but that doesn't sound likely here. It seems as if the only thing that could have caused this is a contamination issue in the second generation yeast. It wouldn't have come from the bottling bucket, but something in that yeast cake/repitch.
 
I don't think any infections cause solvent-like off flavors. I think it is always fermenting too high or using plastics that aren't food grade. At what temperature did you pitch the yeast? Is it possible the power went out on your fermentation chamber during the initial fermentation and came back on and got the beer down to temp before you even noticed it happened?

Wow, that's a fast reply!

Pitched yeast at 65F. I live in the coldest state in Australia and it's the middle of winter....if the power went out the beer would get colder (daytime temps around mid 50's). The fermenter is food grade, I have used it for about a dozen previous batches with no problems.
 
Nail polish remover odor is from acetone.

Ethyl acetate, in larger amounts, is the cause. It can be from infection, but is commonly caused by high fermentation temperature. I've heard it can be from over oxygenation, but that doesn't sound likely here. It seems as if the only thing that could have caused this is a contamination issue in the second generation yeast. It wouldn't have come from the bottling bucket, but something in that yeast cake/repitch.


If that's the case, I'll be happy (no other infected batches). There was no acetate smell in the fermenter though, and the yeast harvest from the infected batch (which I'll dump regardless) doesn't smell bad. Could too much splashing before pitching yeast cause it? I had a new pump for the batch so I tried recirculating/splashing the wort to aerate which I hadn't done before.
 
If that's the case, I'll be happy (no other infected batches). There was no acetate smell in the fermenter though, and the yeast harvest from the infected batch (which I'll dump regardless) doesn't smell bad. Could too much splashing before pitching yeast cause it? I had a new pump for the batch so I tried recirculating/splashing the wort to aerate which I hadn't done before.

I have have read that overaerating can indeed cause this- but I have never had that experience nor heard any other brewers I know say this has happened. Most of us work hard to aerate, some of us even using oxygen systems to aerate the wort, and haven't had this happen.

I keep thinking that it has to do with the second generation yeast pitch in this case, because everything else seems ok.
 
I have have read that overaerating can indeed cause this- but I have never had that experience nor heard any other brewers I know say this has happened. Most of us work hard to aerate, some of us even using oxygen systems to aerate the wort, and haven't had this happen.

I keep thinking that it has to do with the second generation yeast pitch in this case, because everything else seems ok.

Thanks Yooper. I hope that's what it is......I was feeling sick at the thought of dumping multiple batches.
 
But you said it is getting stronger which hints at an active process so infection, getting worse, would be a good guess here.

I guess time will tell with that....They've only been in bottles for two weeks, it might just be my nose becoming more sensitive to the problem.....I become a bit paranoid when I detect off flavours. That does give me a course of action though - wait a week and see how bad they are.
 
When I made my first batch of rice wine (from a thread on hbt) I left the lid loose on my fermenting jug in fear of a giant glass bomb in my kitchen. The wine ended up with a massive acetone smell. I repeated the procedure with a tighter seal and all was well. I know that it is a different yeast, but perhaps your problem may be due to oxygen exposure and and a stressed yeast batch.



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I have a similar problem. An IPA that was splendid was solvent flavored by the time the keg was finished, now an Altbier, same thing.
I suspect an infection in the keg, because it didn't taste that way when it was kegged, nor for a couple of weeks after kegging.
Does anyone know what organism might cause this?
 
Yes, Saccharomyces cerevisiae produces fairly large amounts of ethyl acetate (nail polish remover usually is largely ethyl acetate, MEK, acetone and similar solvents). It is, at low levels, responsible for some of the fruity notes of ales where it is welcome. At high levels it gives the beer a solvent quality which is most unwelcome (except in the UK where they drink Tetleys which I think must be dosed with some extra at kegging). The usual cure for excessive levels is to select a strain which produces less and to lower the temperature at which it is operated.
 
After draining my fermenter and leaving it with the yeast cake for about a month or more, there have been many times when I'd pick up a very strong acetone aroma in the fermenter. The fermenter never gets above 65F, but the large mass of yeast and minor covering of residual beer must create conditions that promote that conversion to the daughter products such as acetone.
 
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